Today’s Devotion
Topic: PRAYER: The Antidote For Trouble!
Text: James 5: 13a
13a Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Amen
The first thing we do at the face of difficulties is to look around for who to blame. It just feels comforting to know that someone else can be made to feel responsible for all the trouble that surround us.
After we have blamed others, we begin to look around for those who will sympathize with us; that is, those who use pity to show ‘concern’. We tell them how bad things are, they tell us it’s a pity things are going that way and help us even more to blame all others for our predicament. These sympathizers leave us worse than we were when we met them.
Finally, we begin to use our difficult situation as the excuse for missing out on productivity at work, school, church.
The unfortunately reality however is that, none of the above activities helps in the face of adversity. If anything, they rather sometimes aggravate the situation and kill our confidence in God’s ability to deliver.
Apostle James puts the solution in simple terms. He says, “IS ANYONE AMONG YOU IN TROUBLE? LET THEM PRAY!
PRAYER is strength to the believer. It allows him/ her access to the throne room where we trade our troubles for victories. There in the throne room, we can lay it all down at the feet of Jesus and pick after His righteousness, His peace, and His joy in the Holy Ghost.
*Picking after His Righteousness in prayer: This refers to that special assurance that we belong to God and are partakers of His divine nature. The blood of Jesus sanctifies and justifies us to be called children of God. A people who are born of the will of God Himself and not man. So that all He is, we aspire; desiring nothing else than His word and will.
* Picking after His Peace: Explains as that great sense of calm even as the tempest roll. It is divine; the kind of peace that surpasses all understanding.
* Picking after His joy in the Holy Ghost: The assurance we get that God can and has already solved the problem can generate such unspeakable joy that others might even find offensive. It is the joy of the Holy Ghost.
Beloved, today begins a new working week, “don’t be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4: 6- 7).
Begin to pray now! Pray the fulfulment of the word of God in every aspect of your life. For the end to your problems begins when you pray.
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